Friday, 4 September 2026

I'm glad that the Eva Burrell Animal Shelter did a pre-rummage sale filming, as it saved me a trip into town. They really had nothing there that interested me. I saw several items that I'd donated including the First Bank tumbler, the gold-rimmed glasses on the milk-glass Fenton base, the Rubbermaid underbed storage, and the two children's toys, but others like the Sterilite trash can and blue recycle bins didn't show up on the video. I'm wondering if perhaps they kept them aside for use at the shelter. Unlike other shelters in the U.P., Eva Burrell's doesn't get the money or the attention that they need, so donations of any kind are always welcomed.

I found a buyer for the giant Santa Claus head. Allegedly, that is, because Facebook Marketplace has a lot of scammers on it and I've encountered at least three over the past few years. Hopefully this is a legit buyer who will actually show up with cash in hand. I've arranged to meet them at the old school at a set time tomorrow morning... hopefully it's a real person. If not, I'm thinking of actually just leaving the head inside the building since I don't really have a storage place for it at Mother's house, so my time waiting around there won't be completely useless. At the moment, it's in the tent next to the lawnmower shed, so as long as nobody messes with it overnight, I can go in and pull it out in the morning. To be honest, I wish that I could keep it; this strikes me as one of those Mid-Century designs that'd be fun to have for the holidays.

Speaking of the tent, I didn't put the rainfly on it before yesterday's rain and I heard a dripping sound earlier, so there might be a little bit of water inside the tent now. I had to tilt it to roll water off the domed roof. It doesn't particularly matter. Almost everything in there is going back to the transfer station tomorrow and Monday. I went through the garage, the 8x8, and the outdoor storage bins, and sorted out the near-garbage items that need to go away. The hard part is cleaning and drying the tent out enough to store it again.

The more I keep reading about how things are changing, the edgier I get about owning too much stuff. It's a thing that even invades my dreams, to where I'm trying to pack or move or relocate or escape a situation and "stuff" slows me down. More than anything, it's my debt that's got me concerned. I've got to find a way to earn income, and it might have to involve social media. I can't do hoarder cleanups or pressure washing or anything crafty, but I'm wondering if there's another avenue that I might take--more relying on my writing-creative nature. Have to give it some thought.